This week, two blog posts on the psychology of freelancing caught my eye: this one from Get Rich Slowly, entitled “Knocking out the beliefs that hold you back” and this one from I Will Teach You To Be Rich, entitled “Success and the shrug effect” (and by the way, it’s not that I love blogs about how to get rich, but these two are interesting!).
In the Get Rich Slowly post, GRS staff writer April Dykman points out how “limiting beliefs” hold us back from success. In April’s case, a college professor once told her that it was impossible to make a living as a freelance writer, which led April to a miserable stint in real estate while her freelance career went nowhere. Far from advocating a “make a wish and it will come true” approach, April gives a detailed, step-by-step guide to destroying your limiting beliefs and getting through to success by setting defined goals, finding mentors, ignoring other people’s limiting beliefs and taking small, concrete steps toward your goals. Likewise, Ramit Sethi argues in his post that we often sabotage our own success by focusing on why other people have “made it” but we can’t. For example we focus the external factors that separate us from the successful businesspeople we admire and convince ourselves that it’s those unchangeable factors that are holding us back… that person went to a name-brand school, that person has connections, that person is so much smarter than we are, etc. Ramit points out that focusing on those types of beliefs is “an excuse to stay in your current state and do nothing.”
While I don’t agree with everything in these posts, I think that this self-defeating phenomenon is really prevalent among freelance translators, and I don’t exclude myself here. The real question is how to overcome these psychological barriers to success. Here are a few techniques I’ve used, and I would be interested to hear from readers a) what are your psychological barriers to success and b) what are you doing about them?
- Keep tangible reminders of your success. April says that she keeps a Word document with positive things that people have said about her. I keep two files (one in my e-mail and one on paper) called “Inspiration” where I store e-mails and notes that say something nice about me. I know, it’s a little cheesy…but when I’m feeling discouraged about a goal that I’ve been struggling to reach (such as finishing the second edition of my book), I crack these files open and remember that someone once said “no one is as thorough as you” or “your book changed my life.”
- Force yourself to accept compliments. Many translators are naturally self-effacing people who naturally discount anything positive that someone says about them. Try this: when someone says something positive about you, just say “Thank you, that’s so nice of you to say” or something like that, rather than “My work isn’t really that good” “I’m not really that smart” or whatever else you were thinking of saying in order to negate the compliment!
- Rewind. One of my struggles this year has been figuring out how to add more direct clients to my portfolio. It has really helped to take myself back 7+ years to the start of my freelance career, when the idea of being successfully self-employed seemed like such a dream. When I think back to how hard I worked during my first two years of freelancing, I think that if I could start out with *no* clients and get to where I am now, I can certainly continue making the jump to *better* clients.
- Do something about your deficits. Once upon a time, I spoke French really well. I lived and went to school in France for a year, then went back pretty much every summer for six or seven years after that, during which time I also had a job where I spoke French for a large part of the work day. Over the years since then, I just haven’t had as much of an occasion to speak French even though I read it all day for work. I realized that in terms of marketing to direct clients in France, one of my limiting beliefs was that “I can’t do it because my spoken French is not strong enough” and I was probably right! So, I decided to start taking French conversation lessons with a native French speaker for an hour every week. This has made a *huge* difference in my confidence level; although my spoken French is not where it was when I got off the plane from living in France, it’s actually enjoyable for me to speak French in social situations with native speakers again.
- Quit waiting for that big block of time. If I had to single out just one psychological path to success, this would be it. Whether it’s writing a book, marketing to direct clients or keeping your office more organized, any goal is more achievable when you do a little bit every day. If you wait until you have nothing on the calendar in order to do some marketing, three months could easily go by until you find the time. But if you send out just one résumé per work day day during those three months, you will have contacted 60 potential clients.
I think this indeed plays a huge role in one’s success. In my case, I worked very hard to prove the naysayers in my life wrong, and I definitely feel that is why I have been successful. One college German professor constantly gave me Cs no matter how hard I worked. The owner of the first agency I ever worked for told me I couldn’t translate despite having successfully worked for the agency for a year and a half. I had great pleasure when I ran into both of them again as a successful translator. I told the professor I succeeded in spite of him (yes, I really did – I disliked him *that* much) and was thrilled to tell the agency owner that I was translating for the American embassy and several other clients. I think the drive to succeed has to come from deep within you, and in some cases the naysayer could be your inner voice. To be successful one has to strive for success despite (or in spite of) the naysayers (even if or especially if that naysayer is you).
Your file of positive reinforcement is not a cheesy idea. I keep a folder in my e-mail program called “Complements” that I refer to whenever I need a boost. It certainly helps when someone complains about my style to look in the program and realize some people appreciate my translation style. Luckily I haven’t had to refer to the folder in a while…
Terrific post, Corinne, thank you! (Mind if I ping it?)
Like many, I was raised to not toot my own horn and to deprecate compliments received – a recipe that guarantees self-created roadblocks.
I’ve become somewhat more gracious in accepting compliments and/or positive feedback since one of my mentors got ticked off one day, looked me straight in the eye and said: “Do you know each time you minimize or reject a compliment you are in fact rejecting the other person and denying them their right to their opinion?”
I had never thought about it that way, but he was right.
Great post, and great timing, thank you!
For the past months I have been trying (and still am) to build up a freelance career aside my partime job. website, bussiness cards to start marketing, etc.
When I first started seriously I read your bought, which really gave me the courage: ‘I can do this’. But things are getting so ready I need to be taking the next step, and I am experiencing exactly what you mention in your post today. I know I can do it, I know it is justa question of insistence and hard work, but somehow my mind gets blocked with negative ideas that hold me back. Suddenly what was a clear plan of action is so hard to do (for no reason at all!) that I think I need to be having a second read of ‘How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator’ and get the inspiration back.
So I will take your word for it and start shaking off me those negative ideas.
Again, thank you so much, you do not know how much you have helped me and what a perfect timing your posts have!
Hi Corinne,
Another great post. Thank you! Your last point really echoed with me. It took me a long time to understand that I could achieve my goals by working a little bit on a regular basis, rather than setting aside a whole day once every couple of weeks to work on them. One day I came across the SMART principle, which advises that you make your goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. I realised that by breaking my goals down into smaller objectives, and then sub-dividing them into even smaller tasks, I could get far more done and–more importantly–enjoy a sense of achievement on working towards my goals. It is incredibly self-empowering to know that I am taking my destiny into my own hands, and I make sure that each of my objectives push me slightly out of my comfort zone–not enough to make me freak out, but enough that I get an adrenaline rush on accomplishing them. This is the recipe for success that seems to be working for me!
Great morale-boosting post on a dismal, grey November day!
Can we do it? Yes, we can!
Thanks, Corinne.
Great post, Corinne! Thank you.
Thank you Corinne for recognising these barriers. It is exactly how I feel and reading your post make me think I am not the only one going through this doubting phase! I am at the beginning of my freelance career and often struggling, but I try to cheer up by projecting myself in 5 years time imagining being successfull and busy with interesting work! Like you do but in reverse motion!
this was a great post, Corinne. Several ideas I will try to put to use (I do love procastinating, so this helps me!)
Thanks, Corinne, for this great post. It’s most useful!